FILE – In this Sept. 18, 2008 file photo, Mary Richardson Kennedy, the wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is shown. The wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has resolved her New York drunken-driving case by pleading guilty to a lesser charge. Mary Kennedy pleaded guilty Thursday, July 22, 2010 to driving with ability impaired. She was arrested in May after a police officer reported seeing her drive over a curb outside a school in Bedford, 30 miles north of New York City. (AP Photo/Andy Kropa, File)

RFK Jr.’s wife guilty of driving impaired in NY

By JIM FITZGERALD (AP) – 8 hours ago

BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. — The wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. settled her drunken-driving case without jail time Thursday night by pleading guilty to a minor charge.

Mary Kennedy admitted in court that her driving ability was impaired when she drove over a curb outside a school in Bedford, 30 miles north of New York City, in May.

Robert Kennedy, who has reportedly filed for divorce, was not in court. He also was not among the many relatives and friends who wrote supportive letters to Town Judge Kevin Quaranta.

“He was not asked,” said Mary Kennedy’s lawyer, Kerry Lawrence.

Robert Kennedy’s mother, Ethel Kennedy, and his sister Kerry Kennedy wrote letters, with Ethel Kennedy telling the judge her daughter-in-law is “kind, loving, gentle and generous.”

Mary Kennedy, 50, would not comment after the court session. Her lawyer said she was “pleased to get some closure.”

The charge of driving while ability impaired is a violation and carries no jail time. The judge fined Kennedy $500, suspended her driver’s license for 90 days and ordered her to attend two drunken-driving programs.

The judge also said Kennedy’s psychiatrist must submit quarterly reports about her progress.

“You’re going to have to live up to the continuation of your treatment,” he told Kennedy.

“Absolutely,” she replied.

The judge told Kennedy the letters from family and friends, including actor Dan Aykroyd and environmentalist Alex Matthiessen, praised “your life, your role as a parent.”

“I hope we don’t see you here again,” he added.

Kennedy was arrested May 15 on a charge of driving while intoxicated after a police officer reported seeing her drive over the curb. Her only passenger was a dog.

Police said her blood-alcohol level was 0.11 percent; the legal limit is 0.08 percent.

The arrest came three days after Robert Kennedy filed a matrimonial action with the Westchester County clerk’s office, naming his wife as defendant. Several news reports said he had filed for divorce, and most such filings are divorce suits, but the papers are sealed and both Kennedys have refused to comment. Lawrence would not comment Thursday night.

Robert Kennedy, a prominent environmental lawyer, is the son of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, both assassinated in the 1960s. Mary Kennedy is his second wife. They have four children.

Robert Kennedy had two children with his first wife, whom he divorced in 1994.

Bedford police said in May that they had responded to the Kennedy home twice in the week before Mary Kennedy’s arrest but no crimes had been committed.

WHITE PLAINS — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed to divorce his wife of 16 years just three days before Mary Kennedy was charged with drunken driving, according to records obtained by The Journal News.

The May 12 divorce filing also came a day before Bedford police responded to the Kennedy home for a “domestic incident” during which her husband alleged she was intoxicated, records show.

It was among several police visits to the Bedford estate in recent years, according to police incident reports.

Robert Kennedy, a prominent environmentalist at Pace University School of Law in White Plains, declined to comment this week.

“I’m not going to talk to you about my personal life,” he said Monday.

He is the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in California in 1968 during his run for president.

According to records on file with the Westchester County Clerk’s Office, the Kennedy family scion filed the papers on May 12.

On May 10, two days before the filing, Mary Kennedy called 911 herself, police said. Officers responding to the house reported she was “visibly intoxicated” and had “great difficulty collecting her thoughts and articulating her reasons for calling.” She told police her husband was “verbally abusive to herself and her children.”

On May 13, officers were summoned to the South Bedford Road home at 9:16 p.m. and filed a state domestic incident report before leaving.

On May 15, Mary Kennedy was stopped outside St. Patrick’s School on Greenwich Road near the couple’s home and charged with driving while intoxicated. Police said she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11 percent at the time of her arrest. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.

She was ordered to undergo evaluation for potential alcohol abuse and is due in Town Court on July 22.

Her lawyer in that case also declined comment on the divorce proceeding.

Details on the divorce filing, including grounds, were unavailable. New York state does not have a “no fault” divorce law, though it will go into effect in September.

The couple has four children.

This would be Kennedy’s second divorce. He was married to Emily Ruth Black. They divorced in 1994, a month before he married his current wife.

Mary Kennedy, right, the wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., leaves Bedford Court in Bedford with her sister on Thursday, as she appears on her DWI charge. The matter was adjourned until July 22.

(Photo: Mark Vergari / The Journal News)

BEDFORD, NY — The wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared Thursday night in Town Court on a drunken-driving charge in a brief hearing that ended with no resolution to her case.

At her previous court appearance May 28, Mary Richardson Kennedy’s lawyer predicted he could wrap up her case Thursday. But Town Justice Kevin Quaranta said she needed to provide the court with more information. He did not say what was required, but Kennedy, 50, was previously ordered to undergo an evaluation to determine if she needs treatment for alcohol abuse.

The hearing was continued to July 22.

Kennedy was arrested about 9 p.m. May 15 outside St. Patrick’s School after she steered her 2004 Volvo station wagon over a curb while driving to an annual carnival there.

She was charged with driving while intoxicated after her blood-alcohol level measured 0.11 percent, police said. The state’s legal limit is 0.08 percent for DWI.

Kennedy pleaded not guilty. During the May 28 court appearance, she was ordered to surrender her driver’s license and undergo the evaluation.

The arrest exposed problems in the Kennedy household, with police records detailing several domestic disturbances.

Just two days before the DWI arrest, Bedford police filed a state domestic incident report after a 911 hang-up call from the residence on South Bedford Road. Police reported that Robert Kennedy, a leading environmentalist, drove the couple’s children to the carnival that day after an argument with his wife, telling police she was intoxicated and “acting irrational.”

On May 10, Mary Kennedy called 911 herself, police said. Officers responding to the house reported she was “visibly intoxicated” and had “great difficulty collecting her thoughts and articulating her reasons for calling.” She told police her husband was “verbally abusive to herself and her children,” records state.

Twice in 2007, Robert Kennedy told police he was worried that his wife might hurt herself, including once that September when he restrained her in the roadway after driving her to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco to see a psychologist.

RFK JR.’S WIFE BUSTED FOR DWI

BEDFORD, NY — The wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was
ordered to surrender her driver’s license and
undergo an evaluation to determine if she needs
treatment for alcohol after she pleaded not guilty
Thursday to drunken driving.

Mary Richardson Kennedy, 50, smiled nervously
during the court proceeding, saying only “yes” when
Justice Kevin Quaranta asked if she understood the
charge.

“This is going to be treated like any other case, ”
Quaranta said.

Kennedy refused to answer questions outside the
courthouse before she was driven away in a black
Mercedes-Benz.

“We hope there will be a resolution of this case at
the next court appearance,” said her attorney, Kerry
Lawrence.

Kennedy’s husband, a leading environmental
activist, did not accompany her.

Kennedy was arrested about 9 p.m. May 15 outside
St. Patrick’s School on a charge of driving while
intoxicated. She had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11
percent, police said. The state’s legal limit is 0.08
percent for DWI.

Police said she steered her 2004 Volvo station
wagon over a curb as she drove up to an annual
carnival at the school.

Just two days earlier, Robert Kennedy drove the
couple’s children to the carnival after an argument
with his wife, according to Bedford police records
obtained this week under the state Freedom of
Information Law.

“Mr. Kennedy stated that his wife was intoxicated
and was acting irrational, so he took the children to
the carnival to remove them from the situation,”
Police Officer David Novick wrote in a state domestic
incident report filed after a 911 hang-up call from
the Kennedy home.

The incidents were the latest in a series of domestic
disturbances at the South Bedford Road estate,
police records show.

Mary's mugshot, May 15, 2010

On May 10, police received a 911 call from Mary
Kennedy at 5:55 p.m. in which she “reports a
dispute between her husband and her children,”
police said.

“Mrs. Kennedy was wearing a white bathrobe and
was barefoot,” Bedford officers wrote in a report.
“Mrs. Kennedy was visibly intoxicated and had great
difficulty collecting her thoughts and articulating
her reasons for calling 911 for assistance .”

“During the interviews, Mary Kennedy repeatedly
stated that she has ongoing issues with her
husband Robert, referring to him as verbally
abusive to herself and her children,” the report said.

Less than an hour after officers left the home, police
said Mary Kennedy called 911 three times within 10
minutes, but the officers “stated they had difficulty
understanding her.”

There were also two incidents involving the
Kennedys in 2007 — one in Bedford and one in
neighboring Mount Kisco.

On March 17, 2007, St. Patrick’s Day, Bedford police
were called to the Kennedy home at 9:51 p.m., the
records show.

“Responded to the Kennedy residence for a report
from Mr. Kennedy that his wife might be trying to
hurt herself,” police said.

Officers arrived to find Mary Kennedy, her sister and
her sister-in-law in the home.

“Spoke to all the parties and it was determined that
their (sic) must have been a (sic) error in
communication between Mr. Kennedy and his wife,”
the police report said.

On Sept. 4, 2007, Mount Kisco police reported a
disturbance between the Kennedys outside Northern
Westchester Hospital Center. According to an
incident report, Robert Kennedy took his wife to the
hospital to see a psychologist because he was
concerned about her mental state.

Mary Kennedy ran into the roadway and had to be
restrained by her husband “to keep her from hurting
herself,” the police report said. He summoned a
motorist to call police and later agreed to drive her
home.

In two earlier encounters with the Kennedys,
Bedford police said they received a 911 call from the
couple’s home on May 12, 2004.

When officers arrived, the nanny told them that one
of the Kennedy children accidentally dialed 911.

On April 22, 2003, Mary Kennedy told police that
her son had mistakenly dialed 911.

* Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the New York Times and on Greenwire.com.

ENVIROS ASK:

IS RFK JR PUTTING PROFIT ABOVE PRINCIPLES?

SAN FRANCISCO — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is no stranger to hardball politics.

The environmental attorney has confronted polluters of the Hudson River, been arrested in Puerto Rico for trying to block U.S. Navy training operations and scrapped with oil companies looking to drill in remote parts of Alaska.

Along the way, he has worked for environmental groups large and small, lending his famous name to a burgeoning movement fighting to bring attention to macro-issues like climate change while protecting local wildlife habitat. In 1999, he was named a Time magazine “Hero of the Planet” for his work with the advocacy group Riverkeeper.

But in California’s emerging battle over renewable energy development, Kennedy has gained new enemies: fellow environmentalists.

Kennedy, the son and namesake of the late Attorney General and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.), is at the center of a nasty dispute among environmental groups, energy developers and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) over the future of federal lands in the sun-soaked Mojave Desert.

The Mojave’s 22,000 square miles straddle California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Given its elevation, heat, aridity and proximity to population centers on the California coast, the region is viewed by many as the ideal venue in North America for building a new generation of large solar-thermal power plants, especially in a state where utilities are required to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2010 and likely 33 percent by 2020.

Among the leaders in a group of aggressive solar prospectors is an Oakland-based company called BrightSource Energy Inc., which has been making a splash lately for its plans to build 2.6 gigawatts of power for California’s investor-owned utilities, much of it to be located — on paper, at least — in the Mojave Desert.

But some California-based activists are worried that solar developers like BrightSource are getting a free pass in a headlong rush to build clean energy and capitalize on federal stimulus dollars now available for such projects. These activists have enlisted Feinstein to push for the declaration of a national monument in the desert and intend to unveil legislation with the senator in September that would apparently protect 1 million acres in the eastern Mojave to limit development.

Enter Kennedy, who calls the national monument, as it is likely to be drawn, a bad idea. To Kennedy, the instinct to protect local ecosystems has collided with the goals of a progressive national energy policy.

“I respect the belief that it’s all local,” Kennedy said in an interview. “But they’re putting the democratic process and sound scientific judgement on hold to jeopardize the energy future of our country.”

But here’s the rub: Kennedy has a stake in BrightSource through VantagePoint Venture Partners, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley that was instrumental in raising $160 million in financing for the solar startup. Other investors include Chevron Corp., Google.org and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

That Kennedy is a senior adviser at VantagePoint, and an open promoter of BrightSource in public speeches, is an irony not lost on David Myers, an activist who charges Kennedy with shilling for a company intent on using his political clout. To Myers, the lure of profit if BrightSource makes it big is why Kennedy, a cousin of California’s first lady, Maria Shriver, wants to stop the national monument before it ever gets off the ground.

“I’m getting pretty tired of BrightSource using their Kennedy connection,” said Myers, executive director of the Wildlands Conservancy. “BrightSource [is pursuing] the worst projects in the worst locations, but they have the best PR firm, because Robert Kennedy is involved.”

Feinstein’s monument

Next, enter Feinstein, a longtime advocate of desert conservation and lead appropriator for the Interior Department in Congress. Her office is working on a bill to be released this month that some sources said will cut off 1 million public acres in the desert — up from a previous estimate of 600,000 acres — to protect a threatened species of desert tortoise and preserve its habitat.

Feinstein, according to several sources who spoke anonymously, is livid about the pace of development on public lands and has bluntly told the solar developers not to challenge her on the national monument designation. Calls to several solar companies seeking comment seemed to bear this out, as none would take a position on the measure.

Myers has been instrumental in developing the boundaries of the monument, sparking rumors that he is cozy with Feinstein and is dictating the terms of the legislation. The boundaries would stretch from Joshua Tree National Park to Mojave National Preserve, including nearly 100,000 acres of National Park Service lands and 210,000 acres spread across 20 wilderness areas controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.

That area includes lands previously owned by Catellus Development Corp., a real estate subsidiary of the former Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroad. Myers insisted that the purchase was made years ago in the name of conservation, a promise that he says Feinstein takes seriously.

And though he would not release details of the bill, Myers said none of the land would come from the federal energy zones marked by the Interior Department for development. Nor does he believe solar companies will have trouble finding land to build on elsewhere in the region.

“The land in the monument is minuscule,” Myers said. “There are so many other places where solar is being proposed throughout the state.”

But Kennedy still disagrees with the national monument push. He points out that BrightSource and 18 other companies have petitioned BLM and the California Energy Commission (CEC) to build in areas that overlap the Catellus lands, which would likely be closed to development under the Feinstein bill. Those applications represent about 10,000 megawatts of power, or 30 large-scale solar power plants; and though much of that would never get built, Kennedy says closing down Broadwell is a significant blow to the companies that have invested there under the guidance of federal land managers.

“This area is probably one of the best solar areas in the world,” Kennedy said. “All that the solar industry has said is, ‘Look, let’s respect the robust process in place,’ a process that is among the most transparent in the world through the CEC and BLM.”

That process is still proceeding. BLM has received 66 applications for solar, totaling 577,000 acres, most of which would be located in the desert, an agency spokesman said. BLM is also processing 93 wind applications, representing 815,000 acres.

Yet the monument bill may have already produced a chilling effect. John White, a renewable-energy policy expert at the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, says the proposal has cast a “shadow” over these projects just as they are vying for financing and federal stimulus dollars only available until 2010. To White, setting aside 1 million acres in the eastern Mojave would mean “less land for solar than for off-road vehicles … in the very best land that has the highest solar radiation.”

“I’m astonished that nobody’s said that,” said White, who refused to comment further on the political wrangling.

Myers countered that most of those 19 companies have agreed, in private discussions with Feinstein, to build elsewhere. Florida Power & Light Co., Cogentrix Energy LLC and Stirling Energy Systems Inc., among others, have informed Feinstein that they filed “shotgun applications” in the Broadwell area and are more than willing to drop those and find other areas, he said.

“They’re fine going outside the monument,” Myers said. “BrightSource is the laughingstock of the industry right now.”

Kennedy vs. Myers

For his part, Kennedy was unfazed by Myers’ allegations or his harsh take on BrightSource, calling the political heat familiar territory, given his family’s unique place in U.S. history. In the same breath, he urged Feinstein to take a step back before proceeding with the monument.

“I don’t think it does anybody any good to start making personal attacks,” Kennedy said. “Let’s argue this on the merits. I think if we argue this on the merits, I think BrightSource and 19 other companies are going to win the debate.”

Kennedy added that he has a “limited stake” in VantagePoint and denied asking for special treatment through Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) or anyone else in the state government.

“I don’t care enough about BrightSource to compromise my integrity or the national interest,” Kennedy said. “I’ve never talked to anyone about choosing BrightSource over anybody else. I’ve never asked for any favors from any politician or any regulator or any human being, ever.”

In the next breath, Kennedy went negative himself and questioned Myers’ relationship with a competitor to BrightSource, Pasadena-based eSolar Inc. Like BrightSource, eSolar is a solar-thermal outfit whose business model is built around reflecting radiation from mirrors into a large tower to convert steam into electricity. Unlike BrightSource, eSolar has no stake or planned projects in the Broadwell region.

Myers, Kennedy pointed out, has his own overlap issues with Silicon Valley money through eSolar. A major donor to the Wildlands Conservancy is the venture capitalist David Gelbaum, who has poured his own funds into eSolar and reportedly owns a fat stake in the company. eSolar would stand to benefit from the national monument, several sources said, because it is not involved in the Broadwell area.

Adding to the fire is Myers himself, who recently appeared at an eSolar press event in person to praise the company for siting projects on industrial lands near power lines in Lancaster, Calif. Yet Myers denies an inappropriate relationship and blamed Kennedy and BrightSource for stoking the rumors.

Gelbaum, Myers said, donated $45 million seven years ago to help acquire the Catellus lands. Myers said the donation and pledge to keep the lands off-limits took place well before BrightSource came into being.

Not stopping there, Myers slammed Kennedy for opposing a wind project off the coast of Nantucket, Mass., and questioned his recent environmental credentials. He said Kennedy is hiding behind the local versus national environmental debate when his real motivation is turning a profit through VantagePoint.

“Bobby Kennedy told us they did not want to see windmills in Cape Cod, that they had to put it all in the California desert,” Myers said. “The real story here is, Bobby Kennedy is on the side of major industrial development, and he’s against distributed generation.”

Kennedy responded in kind. “He is very focused on a narrow piece of land, which I respect,” he said of Myers. “All I’ve ever asked for is a rational process that is democratic, that is transparent, that is robust. That process is in place.”

View from the bleachers

Spectators on the sidelines were hesitant to comment on the flare-up between Kennedy and Myers or the shape of the monument designation. Most said they could not take a position on the forthcoming Feinstein bill until it is publicly available, which a spokeswoman said has not been finalized.

Officials at BrightSource, who contacted Kennedy for an interview after receiving a call for this article, said the focus had been placed unfairly on their company when the future of the entire solar industry is at stake.

“The debate over renewable development and desert protection is not adversarial,” said Keely Wachs, a spokesman at BrightSource. “We all have the same end goal of protecting the environment.”

White, whose organization is meant to bridge industry and environmental groups, said “a little bit of land rush” followed the stimulus frenzy and perhaps led to tense feelings on both sides. He urged the players to learn from the experience, even as he cautioned that the political process has yet to play out.

“It’s one thing to introduce a bill and another thing to get it through both houses,” White said. “I think that this really is the beginning of a long conversation about where and how to put solar in the desert.”

Elden Hughes, a former chairman of the Sierra Club’s California-Nevada Desert Committee, blamed BLM for promoting lands bought from Catellus years ago and said officials there should have respected a promise that those lands be conserved. He said BLM has only recently changed its tune.

Calling BLM officials “two-faced SOBs,” Hughes said, “For some months, they were telling us they were protecting the land, while at the same time they were taking developers out there.”

BLM spokesman John Dearing would only say that the agency’s job is to process applications. BLM has no right to block any entity from seeking a right of way on the Catellus lands, he said, adding that the agency will pursue “high-level reviews” for any proposed impacts to lands meant for conservation.

“They might want to steer away from that area,” Dearing said of the developers. “But they’re not prohibited from making an application.”

Copyright 2009 E&E Publishing. For more news on energy and the environment, visit www.greenwire.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Elizabeth Benjamin of the NY Daily News has been providing excellent coverage of the flap between RFK Jr. and…well, just about everyone here lately.

New York’s environmentalists, the mayor, the governor and of course, those evil bottlers of sugary drinks (that’s nearly every drink on the market) are all up in arms over his latest New York Times OpEd piece which harshly criticizes New York’s so-called “bottle bill.”

Kennedy is currently litigating an industry-sponsored lawsuit against the bottled water bill, and managed to temporarily block it’s June 1st implementation pending outcome of the suit.

Environmentalists Say: Et Tu, RFK Jr.?

May 29, 2009

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s friends in the environmental movement felt blindsided by his New York Times OpEd, which was sharply critical of New York’s newly expanded bottle-deposit law, Bill Hammond reports.

“He didn’t have the courtesy of communicating with any of the groups that are part of the coalition,” said Laura Haight of the New York Public Interest Research Group. Supporters include two groups that Kennedy has been affiliated with, Riverkeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Haight also sharply objected to Kennedy’s arguments, especially the claim that the law was “cooked up by makers of sugared drinks and their allies in the Legislature” because the expansions extended only to water, and not flavored beverages.

(“A Bottle Bill That Will Rot Your Teeth” was the headline of Kennedy’s opus).

Haight said the Legislature excluded flavored drinks in deference to grocery stores who complained that sugary residue in returned bottles and cans would attract vermin into their stores.

Environmentalists accepted the compromise because water accounted for 70% of the beverage containers not already covered, she said.

Kennedy, the son of RFK and nephew of JFK, is best known as an environmental attorney. He was mentioned as a potential replacement for Hillary Clinton in the US Senate (for the seat once held by his father), but stepped aside to let his cousin, Caroline Kennedy, take center stage.

He also briefly considered an AG run in 2006, creating a brief flurry of excitement among political reporters anxious to cover a race that pitted him against Andrew Cuomo, the ex-husband of his sister, Kerry Kennedy. (Sadly, that was not to be, either).

But, as Kennedy acknowledged toward the end of his OpEd, he’s also a water bottler – as chairman of Keeper Springs, a company that donates after-tax profits to environmental causes.

This makes him part of an industry that lobbied hard to block the so-called “Bigger Better Bottle Bill,” and he echoed the arguments of industry lobbyists in his article and in an affidavit he filed in support of the lawsuit.

“He’s obviously carrying water for the bottled water companies,” Haight said.

Haight said Kennedy called her Thursday to apologize for not contacting her sooner. He agreed to meet with her and other supporters of the law and correct any factual mistakes he may have made in his affidavit, she said.

Sheekey To RFK Jr.: Put A Cork In It

May 29, 2009

To the list of people upset at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his anti-Bottle Bill OpEd add Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey.

The Bloomberg administration sent over the following statement – unsolicited – from Sheekey this afternoon in response to our earlier report about the parting of ways between NYPIRG and the self-professed environmentalist/bottler.

“To be honest, Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s actions are surprising. For someone who has been a champion of the environment, it is unfortunate that his own personal agenda takes precedence over important policy that is years overdue. One can only hope he reconsiders his position. If not, then he is sadly no different than any other special interest.”

It’s no secret that Mayor Bloomberg is big into all things green, although I can’t recall him making much of a big push for the Bottle Bill before this.

But the fact that it’s Sheekey and not the mayor himself putting the verbal smackdown on RFK Jr. is a fascinating development.

Recall Sheekey’s heavy-handed involvement in the effort to land Hillary Clinton’s US Senate seat for Caroline Kennedy, who just so happens to be RFK Jr.’s cousin.

In fact, Sheekey’s efforts on Caroline Kennedy’s behalf were so extensive – not to mention overt – that there was an attempt by some of her advisors to muzzle him for fear of him tanking her altogether with key players like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (who eventually got on the pro-Caroline train – not that it helped her any in the end).

Needless to say, Sheekey did not oblige.

Instead, he went on to make very public statements about the fact that his “friend” Caroline was in fact the only one of the candidates vying for Clinton’s seat who had backed Barack Obama for president and thus would be better able to work with him in Washington.

I’m not sure that this a shot across the bow or a sign that City Hall plans to get heavily involved in the Bottle Bill battle, which would, of course, endear the mayor to the Paterson administration at a time when he just so happens to be seeking permission for some revenue-generating new taxes (much to the Council’s chagrin).

EDITOR’S NOTE: The latest issue of Vanity Fair features an article called “Ted Kennedy’s Final Battle,” which is an excerpt from Ed Klein’s new book on the liberal lion. The article speculates heavily on which member of the Kennedy family will eventually pick up the torch of leadership – Patrick? Caroline? Joe? Kathleen? Christopher? – but seems to overlook the one believe to be the best qualified…Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

One of of our longtime bloggers wrote to voice her amazement at Klein/Vanity Fair’s out-of-hand dismissal of RFK Jr.’s capabilities, expressing the dismay many of Bobby’s supporters felt after reading the article. We’d like to share her Letter to the Editor with you below:

VANITY FAIR ARTICLE NEEDS CLARIFICATION

By Susanne Silverstein

Dear RFK Jr. News-Staffers:

It’s been a while since I’ve visited the web site but my heart still gets tugged when I read articles like this month’s Vanity Fair.

I feel the article is totally unfair to RFK Jr. in it’s perception that he is not one of the heirs most likely to be active in this or next generation. The article goes on to hype Joe Jr & Caroline as being the two new leaders of the Kennedy clan. They discuss how RFK Jr. has a speech impediment that makes running for office a serious challenge.

I beg to disagree! He has been out there speaking in public for years, never letting his spasmodic dysphonia stop him from getting the message across. He hosts a weekly radio show on Air America and does numerous television interviews. In my opinion, he’s a better speaker than all the other Kennedy kids put together!

I have also been aware that he has had to work with a speech impediment, but Bobby is nothing less than an electrifying speaker. It is a shame what his family is pulling. They are only hurting our country by their selfish short-sighted behavior. All of us face some dysfunction in our immediate families and I just chalk this nonsense up to petty jealousies.

I hope the members here can convince him that he is beloved by millions. That there are millions more longing to hear him speak; and that he will be able to sort out his family’s nonsense for what it is. Just a histronic reaction to the sad scenario of Ted Kennedy’s illness and probable prognosis.

Bobby Jr; has accomplished so much more in public life than most of his cousins, brothers and sisters put together! I once did admire Joe Kennedy’s prowess, but he seems to be truly happier working on his energy company. He has kept a low profile until now.

We need to get more letters over to Vanity Fair to set them straight about Bobby Jr’s real promise and qualifications as a real leader for the next generation of Americans!